AFL set to introduce tougher drug laws.

The AFL has announced plans to store players blood and urine samples long-term in the midst of upgraded procedures to discourage drug cheats.

Samples will be kept on ice for eight years in the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) deep freeze facility, known as The Tank.

AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said it raised the risk of individuals being stripped of awards, such as the Brownlow Medal, or a team being stripped of a premiership, if they were later found to have used banned substances.

The AFL will also be the first Australian sporting code to blood test its athletes for performance-enhancing drugs Human Growth Hormone.

ASADA acting chief executive Richard Ings said the AFL’s new program, which will cost about $500,000 a year, controlled every part his agency wanted and set the pattern for other Australian sporting codes and athletes.

Ings had also told the media on how ASADA considers the new AFL drug policy to be the best of any anti – doping programs in Australian sport.

Almost 1,000 tests will be conducted this year, including target-testing where necessary.

“Performance-enhancing drugs are a massive threat worldwide to different sports and their integrity,” Anderson said.

“We’re determined to stay ahead of the game, that’s why we’re entering into this agreement.

“We don’t want … the integrity of our sport threatened by performance-enhancing drugs, we’re determined to take every step we can to prevent that happening.”

Anderson said the freezing of samples, together with ASADA powers to uncover violations through investigative methods other than testing, meant that even if drug cheats could beat current testing technology, they were not safe.

“We’re more likely to catch someone using performance-enhancing drugs than any other sport,” he said.

“And even if you get away with something now, your sample is frozen for eight years and you’re a strong chance of being caught and exposed in the future.”He revealed the league would remove a Brownlow from a player who was later found to have been a drug cheat at the time and a similar stance could apply towards clubs.

“May it never happen because of what we’re doing here,” he said.

“But if you had a case of any cheating, you would think about taking a premiership away, absolutely.”

The AFL has had only one player test positive to performance-enhancing drugs – former Richmond and Footscray ruckman Justin Charles – in 20 years of testing, Anderson said that they still had to be down to business with the policy.

I believe that the punishments that will come with the new policy are extremely fair. Hopefully this does scratch out cheating from the AFL.